Nanotechnology News – Latest Headlines

Using two different types of chemical etching to create features at both the micron and nanometer size scales, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a surface treatment that boosts the light absorption of silicon photovoltaic cells in two complementary ways.

A team of scientists from Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Uppsala in Sweden, and the Savannah River National Laboratory have identified that carbon nanostructures can be used as catalysts to store and release hydrogen, a finding that may point researchers toward developing the right material for hydrogen storage for use in cars.

The European Science Foundation has announced the conference Nanocarbons: from physicochemical and biological properties to biomedical and environmental effects, from September 8-13, 2009 in Acquafredda di Maratea, Italy.

The basic aim of the new regulation is to remove legal uncertainties and inconsistencies, while increasing the safety of cosmetics. Parliament's amendments add further improvements, especially regarding the claims companies make for their products and the safety of nanomaterials used in cosmetics.

Researchers have attached together blocks of sugar molecule chains (polysaccharides) and protein chains (polypeptides) in a linear fashion. In water, these block copolymers spontaneously form vesicles.

The quantity of artificial carbon-based nanoparticles in lake and river-beds, originating from new products, is negligible compared to the concentration of natural carbon-based nanoparticles that are present in such beds.

A new PhD thesis from Chalmers shows that the multifaceted material perovskite could be of benefit in three key applications: fuel cells, gas separation prior to the storage of carbon dioxide and nanocomponents in electronic products.

EuroNanoForum 2009 is the fourth conference of a set of international nanotechnology conferences organized within the framework of national Presidencies of the European Union. This will be a 4-day conference taking place from 2nd to 5th of June 2009, in Prague.